Thursday's Leadership Insight.The Leadership Content Skill of Candor and How To Upgrade Your Leadership Practice Using Radical Candor.

Who here likes to have hard or uncomfortable discussions with those you lead?

Who has sat in a meeting listening to a superior's awful idea/strategy or practice and said nothing? Who has been in a meeting with your supervisor, starting with "to be candid"? I bet many nodding heads and a churning stomach remembrance of these situations. In my dissertation, a year-long study on teacher stress events, being evaluated was consistently rated higher for a teacher than being assaulted. The sad truth is that hard conversations don't have to be hard for leaders and followers (notice I did not say uncomfortable ), and they don't have to be cruel and demeaning judgments of personal worth. We all need course correction and accountability in our leadership practice and leading others. The content skill of candor can provide a framework for hard discussions. A practical upgrade to one's leadership practice will be using a radical candor framework to develop a culture to build people up and get things done. Leadership is a relationship journey, and the key to building healthy relationships is trust by being caring and using candor, which can be enhanced by adding radical candor. This Thursday's leadership insight describes what makes being candid hard and defines what candor is and what is not. A practice upgrade of radical candor is shared to supercharge leadership and followership. Both candor and radical candor are compared, and a seven-point checklist is shared to guide the leader's use of radical candor in any organization's culture.

Few leaders like to have difficult conversations with individuals or teams who are not behaving, not performing, making mistakes, or even sharing awful news within the organization. Effective leadership often requires challenging discussions with individuals, teams, or the entire organization. Leaders often have to provide and receive difficult feedback. This is challenging for many leaders due to our upbringing and desire to be liked. Think back to your childhood. Does this teaching resonate with you: "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything," or ignore it, and it will correct itself? While I believe the intent may have been to be kind, this is not a guide for building lasting sustainable relationships and effective leadership practice.

Human relationships are complicated and can involve conflict and uncomfortable discussions. The unspoken message is avoidance of unpleasantness. In?From Conflict to Courage, Marlene Chism reports that most organizational conflicts are due to avoidance because of leadership mismanagement. This avoidance is then cloaked in "niceness" or" ignoring. A lack of candor is a lack of leadership, courage, and caring. A lack of candor is, in fact, a dysfunction in any situation, as noted in The Elephant in the Living Room by Typpo and Hastings. They described three rules of dysfunction in chemical dependency as "Don't Talk, Don't trust, Don't feel. Those three rules are alive and well in many organizations. Candor opens the door; radical candor empowers all to be supercharged. There are three major misconceptions about candor. The first misconception is that being candid allows leaders to demonstrate their power over others as cruel and vindictive. Secondly, candor is often cited as not being nice and should be avoided. Third, candor is often characterized as a strategy, a tool to apply to crises or bring out only when things "hit the fan."The truth is that candor is an essential daily part of all leadership in all situations. Candor may be more notable in a challenging situation, yet it is a daily practice for effective leaders in any context. Intent and delivery differ in how candor is described in the three misconceptions about candor. Candor is a critical content skill of effective leadership that involves open, honest, and transparent communication. Here are the five ?aspects that make candor crucial for leaders:

1. Building Trust

Candor is the cornerstone of trust in leadership. Leaders who communicate transparently and honestly demonstrate integrity and value truthfulness over superficial harmony. This fosters an environment where team members feel psychologically safe to express themselves, enhancing team cohesion and productivity.

2. Encouraging ?Innovation

When leaders practice candor, they create an atmosphere that nurtures creativity and innovation. Employees are more likely to share unconventional ideas when they know their input will be considered thoughtfully, even if it challenges the status quo.

3. Promoting Growth, Learning and Accountability

Candid feedback, both positive and constructive, is essential for individual and organizational growth. Leaders who provide clear, specific feedback help team members understand areas for improvement and recognize their strengths. This promotes a growth mindset and fosters accountability.

4. Navigating Challenges

Candor equips leaders to handle complex decisions by ensuring that all relevant information is considered preemptive clues or in the moment. In times of uncertainty or crisis, transparent communication becomes even more critical for maintaining trust and guiding teams effectively.

5. Fostering Inclusion

An environment of candor invites diverse contributions, enriching innovation and resilience. It creates a culture where all voices are heard and valued, supporting diversity

By embracing candor, leaders create a more transparent, Innovative, and resilient?organization. It's not just about being honest but about fostering an environment where open communication is valued and used to drive continuous improvement and success.An intentional practice of radical candor affects the way Greg Cagle describes a culture in the 4 dimensions of culture,how we think,how we act,and how we interact

"When You Offer Radical Candor, You Can Build the Best Relationships of Your Career, and You Help Everyone to Do Their Best Work"

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?Developing one's leadership skills of candor will produce dramatic effects. What if one could learn a way to supercharge Candor? Kim Scott, in her 2019 ?book Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss, describes candor as vital to organizations and defines it as "Radical candor, then, results from a combination of caring personally and challenging directly." Leadership expert John Maxwell echoed these same thoughts In a ?December 20, 2010 blog, For leaders: balancing care with Candor, noting that "Caring values the person while candor values the person's potential, and both factors play into effective leadership candor. To lead successfully, you need to value people. That is foundational to solid relationships. Caring for others demonstrates that you value them. However, if you want to help them get better, you have to be honest about where they need to improve. That shows that you value the person's potential and require candor." Candor is an intent to be completely honest with a belief in the person's ability to improve and a desire to guide them in improvement. This crucial feedback and information delivered with care and candor are very effective. Candor and radical candor differ primarily in their level of directness and the relationship between the communicating parties. Here's a breakdown of the key differences:

"Radical candor, then, results from a combination of caring personally and challenging directly."

Kim Scott Radical Candor

Candor vs. Radical Candor

Candor is generally defined as being open, honest, and sincere in speech. It involves expressing one's thoughts or opinions frankly. Radical candor, as coined by Kim Scott, goes a step further. It combines caring personally with challenging directly. Scott defines it as "Caring personally while challenging directly. Guidance is both kind and clear, specific and sincere."Candor and radical candor differ primarily in their level of directness and the relationship between the communicating parties. Here's a breakdown of the key differences:

Key Aspects of Radical Candor

Radical candor differs from traditional candor in leadership in several key ways:

1. Balance of care and challenge: Radical candor emphasizes both "caring personally" and "challenging directly."?Traditional candor often focuses solely on being direct or honest without necessarily demonstrating care for the individual.

2. Intent and approach: Radical candor aims to deliver feedback and criticism in a kind, clear, specific, and sincere way. The intent is to help the person improve, not just to point out flaws. Traditional candor may be more focused on simply stating opinions or observations bluntly.

3. Building relationships: Radical candor involves understanding team members personally, including their motivations, goals, and life stories. This relationship-building is seen as crucial for effective feedback. Traditional candor does not necessarily prioritize relationship-building.

4. Two-way communication: Radical candor encourages open dialogue and receptiveness to feedback in both directions. It's not just about the leader giving feedback but also being open to receiving it. Traditional candor is often more one-directional.

5. Cultural sensitivity: Radical candor recognizes that what feels candid to one person may feel obnoxious or touchy-feely to another, especially across cultures. It emphasizes adapting communication styles based on individual and cultural preferences. Traditional candor may not account for these nuances.

6. Focus on growth: Radical honesty is part of a "growth management" mindset, focused on helping people develop and improve. Traditional candor may align more with a fixed "talent management" approach.

7. Psychological safety: Radical candor aims to create an environment where people feel safe expressing ideas and admitting mistakes. Traditional candor may not explicitly prioritize psychological safety.

Radical candor is a more nuanced, relationship-based approach that balances honesty with empathy and care. In contrast, traditional candor may be more straightforward but potentially less effective in building trust and fostering growth.

?Understanding the differences between candor and radical candor can cause many leaders to say I see the benefits, but this looks hard. How do I do it? Is there a formula and guidebook? The truth is that all relationships, work, home school, etc can be difficult. They can also be a source of mutual growth. There are some checkpoints to guide the journey. Maxwell leadership corporate solutions podcasters Perry Holly and Chris Goede in an August 2021 podcast EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP PODCAST #149: LEADER SKILL: HOW TO DELIVER THE KIND-HARD TRUTH .provide seven checkpoints for a leader to guide the delivery of the "kind hard truth."The checklist below guides radical candor in challenging discussions with individuals, teams, or the entire organization.

Checkpoint One: Check the strength of your connection; it is the foundation of care and candor.

A leader's connection with a person allows them to be honest and transparent as a person who wants to help the person develop and learn.

?? Checkpoint Two. Check your intent versus your perception

Be crystal clear on your intent to improve your connection and guide the person (s) to improve their performance first versus your perception of what you saw/disappointment or even anger about the error.

.Checkpoint Three. Check that the what of the situation is more important than the who.

Do your best to separate the action you want corrected or learned from the person(s). People make mistakes. What happened is not a moral judgment in the vast majority of cases.

?Checkpoint Four. Check that your language, demeanor, and tone demonstrate your desire to preserve the person's dignity without invoking blame or shame.

How you communicate a message is more than the words used. Your eye contact, body language, tone, and listening will enhance or destroy your relationships. Be a learned, not a blamer. Most challenges carry lessons for leaders to learn from.

Checkpoint Five: Check your communication style for effectiveness.

Be keenly attentive and intentional in using your best communication, presenting, listening, pausing, and questioning. Be aware of the other person's communication style to enhance communication. Be clear and specific in your feedback. Use open-ended questions, maintain eye contact, and demonstrate listening to understand how the situation unfolded. These tools, used with care, will guide further guidance and coaching.

Checkpoint Six: Check your intention to do the right thing versus a desire to be correct and win a disagreement.

This checkpoint reminds a leader to remember that their primary roles are building people up and getting things done. Balanced with care, Radical Candor guides people to get better and learn how to get things done well.

Checkpoint Seven: Check back with the person or persons involved in the discussion for clarity, impact, and learning.

This allows for any clarification., confirmation, and affirmation. Most importantly, it reaffirms your intention to address the situation, not blame or shame, and demonstrates caring and learning.

These are seven checkpoints for all leaders to develop /enhance candor and supercharge to radical candor. This is a very worthwhile process that benefits everyone. It all starts with the leader's intent to build people up and get things done. It is a hard journey that will take time. Yet, as John Maxwell often says, everything worthwhile is uphill.

The Leadership Questions for you then ?are;

1.???? What is the level of candor in your organization?

2.???? Will you choose to use candor in your leadership practice?

3.???? ??Will you upgrade to practice radical candor?

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